Prospect and mini camps are underway throughout the National Hockey League this week, with most main camps expected to open over the course of the next 7 to 10 days, announcing the long-return of hockey, and hopefully bringing to a close the embarrassing and belittling backroom politics and legal struggles that have marred the hockey world over the summer.
Yesterday's news of prospective Phoenix Coyotes bidder Ice Edge Holdings' removal of their anticipated bid means that, as things stand currently, when Judge Redfield T. Baum rules on the future of the organization later this week, the ownership of the franchise will either be transferred to the National Hockey League, allowing them to solicit and secure an owner of their choosing for the failing team, or to Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie, making the possibility of a seventh Canadian franchise a step closer to reality.
Whatever the judge's ruling this week, the fate of the Coyotes is almost certainly still undecided. Appeals, prolonged legal battles, and the ultimate fate of the Phoenix franchise, be it finding a new owner willing to suffer the losses of an Arizona-based team, or the eventual relocation of the club to Hamilton and the potential conflicts with both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres, will no doubt ensure that this story will continue long into the new season, with little hope of an amicable resolution with the best interests of the game in mind.
The best case scenario, at this stage, would be (in my opinion) an enforced compromise between the two parties, handed down by Baum and held up in appeals court. Award ownership of the club to Balsillie, on the condition that the franchise will stay in Phoenix while preparations are made to Copps Coliseum and the City of Hamilton, as well as any relocation fees, territory infringements on the Leafs and Sabres, and any unresolved personal issues between Balsillie and the league are dealt with. While in Phoenix, the league will split operational losses with Balsillie (as he has already suggested and agreed to, though the notion was quickly dismissed by the league).
Ultimately, after the summer that has been, and the constant back and forth between the league and Balsillie, neither party will escape as a white knight and saviour of the team. Balsillie has shown considerable disregard for the integrity of the league and the sophistication required to run a league by suggesting that he would move the team in mid-season, and has angered Bettman and the league by attempting to secure ownership through what they see as a back door. By contrast, the NHL have shown little respect or willingness to secure the best future for the club or the league throughout the process, treating the court proceedings and Balsillie's bid with disdain and irreverence. Rejecting Balsillie as an owner by vote demonstrated little more than how tightly-knit the Board of Governors is, and what old boys-club politics underline the business of hockey. Moreover, but setting a relocation fee for the franchise rumoured to be in excess of $100 million, the NHL has acknowledged that a Hamilton franchise would be worth more than one in Phoenix, and yet persist with a dream of conquering the Southern United States while dreaming of an ever-elusive national broadcasting rights deal with a major network.
Neither camp can claim a moral high-ground through the summer's events, and one can only hope that upon Baum's ruling, and the inevitable appeals that will follow, the best interests of the fans, the players, and league, and the owners will in some way be addressed. That said, I have my doubts, on all counts.
Elsewhere in league politics, the Players' Assoiation firing of Executive Director Paul Kelly may signal even greater uncertainty and strife in the future for the league, as the PA appear to aiming for a more hard-line, focuses stance going into negotiations for the next Collective Bargaining Agreement. While Kelly was widely regarded outside the union as having been doing a good job, he had seemingly fostered a working relationship with the league and formed a burgeoning partnership going forward. While details of his removal from duty have been hard to come by, there has been speculation that, as with Ted Saskin before him, Kelly had become too close to the league, leaving the players uneasy about any future negotiations. While Bob Goodenow was relieved of his duties for taking too hardline a stance in the last CBA talks, the union appears to be uneasy entering into too close a partnership with the league at this time, and are thought to be seeking an Executive Director prepared to guard the players' interests and rights above and beyond creating a partnership with the league.
Given the league's position in Phoenix, and the projected losses the league would be faced with should they gain ownership, and their objection to moving the franchise to a much more profitable, beneficial market such as Hamilton, one can hardly blame the players for being cautious in their dealings with the NHL. Given that player salaries are now tightly linked to hockey-related revenues, a fact which is unlikely to change in the next CBA, and the negative impact Phoenix has as compared to a Hamilton-based club, the PA's stance appears economically sound, if not the best publis relations. More news should be expected within the coming days and weeks regarding what happened between Kelly and union, but who the PA find to replace him should give a strong indication of any upcoming labour disputes, and the union's stance in builing a partnership with the league hierarchy.
Ultimately, while the return of hockey and the opening of training camps does little to address the legal concerns of the league, the ownership battle surrounding the Phoenix Coyotes, the on-going transfer saga between the NHL and the KHL, or the future direction of the NHLPA, it's it nevertheless a relief for all in involved that at last there's some hope of hockey's domestic issues finally taking a step back, and allow the athletes and games a chance to resume spotlight duty. That said, it would seem unlikely that we've heard the last of the NHL's troubles of this off-season...
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